The Cliveden Set

'A lively, entertaining and informative account of one of the stranger episodes to have created a national legend.' Anthony Howard, Sunday Times

A lively, entertaining and informative account of one of the stranger episodes to have created a national legend

A model piece of historical writing...A lively, generous-minded and convincing demolition of a contemporary legend

Norman Rose...is a master of Britain's internal relations...his knowledge is extensive and his touch assured...In fine, economical, sometimes epigrammatic prose he has written a thoroughly entertaining, absorbing account

Well-researched, well-written and fascinating...a fine work

Norman Rose sorts out the Cliveden Set for us once and for all...calm, lucid and authoritative

The Cliveden Set was long said to be a conspiracy at the heart of the Establishment to appease Hitler. Here, at last is a full exposure of the truth behind the myth. Norman Rose has done a signal service to history, producing a work of profound scholarship written with a wonderfully light touch

Norman Rose is a graduate of the LSE and now holds the Chair of International Relations at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. A distinguished historian and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he is also the author of much acclaimed biographies of Winston Churchill and Chaim Weitzman, as well as a study of the Cliveden Set.

Lloyd George once spoke of 'a very powerful combination - in its way the most powerful in the country'. Its proceedings were invariably conducted at Cliveden, the country estate of the fabulously wealthy Nancy and Waldorf Astor. Collectively dubbed 'God's Truth Ltd', the group included leading politicians, academics, writers and newspaper editors. Its pedigree impeccable, its social standing beyond reproach, its persuasive powers permeated the clubs and institutions of London, the senior common rooms of Oxbridge colleges, the quality press and the great country houses of England. Suddenly, in the late 1930s, the 'Cliveden Set' was catapulted into uncalled-for notoriety. It had been identified as a cabal that sought to manipulate, even determine, British foreign policy in order to uphold its narrow class interests. It would use any means, however devious - even negotiate a humiliating, dishonourable settlement with Nazi Germany - to maintain its privileges, those of a decaying ruling class. But was the 'Cliveden Set' a traitorous cabal, challenging 'the constitutional structures of British democracy', or simply an unstructured think-tank of harmless do-gooders? Norman Rose discerningly probes this fascinating tale, brilliantly disentangling fact from fiction, and setting this privileged clique in the wider perspective of its times.

Norman Rose

A lively new biography... Thoroughly absorbing... admirably balanced and well-rounded

[Rose] is able to put Harold's foreign policy skills into context more thoroughly than has ever been done before... Frank and alert

A powerful sidelight on a whole political class between the last world wars, and how they helped make the world we know

Harold Nicolson was a man of extraordinary gifts. A renowned politician, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster and gardener, his position in society and politics allowed him an insight into the most dramatic events of British, indeed world, history.<br/>
<br/>
Nicolson's personal life was no less dramatic. Married to Vita Sackville-West, one of the most famous writers of her day, their marriage survived, even prospered, despite their both being practising homosexuals. Unashamedly elitist, bound together by their literary, social, and intellectual pursuits, moving in the refined circles of the Bloomsbury group they viewed life from the rarified peaks of aristocratic haughtiness. <br/>
<br/>
Few men could boast such gifts as Nicolson possessed, yet he ended his life plagued by self-doubt. 'I am attempting nothing; therefore I cannot fail,' he once acknowledged. What went wrong? It was a question that haunted Nicolson throughout his adult life. Relying on a wealth of archival material, Norman Rose brilliantly disentangles fact from fiction, setting Nicolson's story of perceived failure against the wider perspective of his times.

Harold Nicolson

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Norman Rose

Praise for Harold Nicolson

A lively new biography... Thoroughly absorbing... admirably balanced and well-rounded

[Rose] is able to put Harold's foreign policy skills into context more thoroughly than has ever been done before... Frank and alert

Lucid and stylish

A lively new biography... Thoroughly absorbing... admirably balanced and well-rounded

[Rose] is able to put Harold's foreign policy skills into context more thoroughly than has ever been done before... Frank and alert

Lucid and stylish

A lively new biography... Thoroughly absorbing... admirably balanced and well-rounded

[Rose] is able to put Harold's foreign policy skills into context more thoroughly than has ever been done before... Frank and alert

Lucid and stylish

Books by Norman Rose

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